I remember a very good friend of mine preaching and saying that an idol was [u]anything[/u] that took the place of God in our lives - belongings, cars, hobbies, people, husbands, wives, children, friends, homes, etc. God had to be the first in our lives; everything else came second.Idolatry was one reason why the Jews went into exile. God said in Exodus 20 v 3 "Thou shalt have no other gods before me". And this command has not been changed for modern man! Sue
_________________Sue
The bottom line--anything that you love more than you love God is in idol in your life.
_________________Billy Evans
I agree with all that has been written on this thread and now would like to share my understanding of this subject. I, too, have been thinking a lot about this recently, believing moderns are more caught up with this then we want to believe. The first of the ten commandments tells us: Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Hence all sins commemce with the failure to observe this one. Now to understand what this means we need to apply the law of first mention. Go to the garden of Eden where Eve was being tempted. The serpent was tempting Eve by getting her to question God's word: Gen. 3:1: "Yea, hath God said?" Then he contradicted God's word "ye shall not surely die for God doeth know that in the day ye eat thereof , then your eyes will be opened and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." v. 4,5. In this case God's word was being displaced by the serpents' as the source from whom one receives direction. This is idoltry: displacing God's word for what he has expressly spoken for another whether it be my own opinion or anothers'.ginnyrose
_________________Sandra Miller